


Companionable

by beautifultropicalfish



Category: Bridgerton (TV), Bridgerton Series - Julia Quinn
Genre: F/M, and i would never do that to penelope!, i swear to you - dear reader - that there is ZERO colin/cressida in this, i would never do that to you!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:53:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29924052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beautifultropicalfish/pseuds/beautifultropicalfish
Summary: 3 times Colin shared a dance with Cressida Cowper + 1 time he refused.
Relationships: Colin Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington, Eloise Bridgerton & Penelope Featherington
Comments: 7
Kudos: 170





	Companionable

1.

1813

Over Cressida’s shoulder, Colin caught sight of Lady Trowbridge. Her footman whispered something in her ear, and she giggled girlishly. In spite of himself, Colin laughed.

Cressida started. His eyes snapped back to hers.

“What could you be laughing at?” she asked, a bit sourly.

“Nothing,” he said quickly. “Just something my friend had mentioned to me earlier this evening.”

“Do tell,” she purred.

Colin didn’t really feel like sharing. For one, he knew that, unlike Penelope, who was mostly just musing on a sly little joke, Cressida would be malicious about such a thing. Secondly, if he revealed who this friend was, Cressida would no doubt take the opportunity to say something snide about Penelope. Which he had no care to hear.

He changed the subject.

“A beautiful hall, no doubt.”

“Oh, yes,” Cressida said. “Though I do wonder if you’ve been able to make your way out to the gardens. They’re just as, if not more, dazzling than the interior.”

“Oh, I will have to venture out there myself later on,” he replied, though he knew he would likely not end up going. An oddly somber Anthony had informed him that Daphne was unwell and that he would take her home, so it was up to Colin to keep an eye on their mother for the rest of the evening.

The song came to a final note. Cressida held her arm up, about to gesture to her dance card again, when Marina appeared between the two of them. Colin was very grateful for her just then.

“Miss Thompson!”

“Mister Bridgerton.” Marina gave him a wry smile, though she had an urgent look in her eyes. Behind her, he could see Lord Rutledge was stalking towards them rather quickly.

“Might I accompany you on another dance this evening?” he looked straight at Marina, making it clear whom he was talking to.

“I would like that very much.”

Colin didn’t let out his sigh of relief until he was several feet away from Cressida. Then, he and Marina started off once again.

He heard a loud cackle behind his shoulder. Twirling Marina around in his arms, he managed to turn and face the other way.

Ah. It was his mother, who had clapped a heavy hand onto a startled neighbor’s shoulder in merriment. Colin would need to see to her soon.

Only a few feet away from his mother, he saw Lady Trowbridge's maids rushing to calm the fussing baby in her arms. Lady Trowbridge gave her son a kiss of the crown of his head, allowed the maid to take him, and then jumped back into rabid conversation with the footman.

Colin tried to suppress the grin on his face. Marina took notice.

“Whatever could be so amusing?” she asked gently.

He admitted to her the very comment Penelope had made to him earlier in the night. “Penelope told me that.”

Marina also laughed. “Penelope’s very clever.”

“She is,” Colin agreed. It was no wonder Eloise adored her so much. She was probably privy to even more of the fun things she said than anyone else.

“She is but the dearest friend to me at the Featherington’s,” Marina said. “Not that Lady Featherington nor the other Miss Featheringtons aren’t gracious hosts!” she then rushed.

Colin nodded thoughtfully. He imagined there was more truth to the first statement than the second.

“She really is a fine friend.”

2.

1818

“Someone is awfully giddy tonight,” Cressida cast a disdainful glare across the ballroom at their hosts.

Colin followed her gaze. He watched Anthony say something to Kate, who took a gloved hand off of her husband’s shoulder to cover her laugh. Anthony watched his wife duck her head down with loving eyes, pleased that she was so amused.

“Never quite knew how she landed your brother.”

Colin was a little annoyed that Cressida thought she could say that in front of him, and worse, seemed to hope that he’d agree.

On the contrary, Colin thought Kate and Anthony were unbelievably well-paired. Colin could tell, from the moment he’d met Kate, that she would be someone who’d be able to go toe-to-toe with Anthony. And correct, Colin was.

In the time since that fateful first meeting, Anthony and Kate had married, grown to understand their love from one another, and had two beautiful sons. On top of being a well-matched married couple, Colin could tell that Kate and Anthony were also good friends to one another. Probably best friends.

That thought gave him pause.

Did _he_ have a best friend?

As a young boy, he would’ve said it was Daphne. Only a year apart, they had been inseparable for much of their childhood. Now, Daph would probably say her greatest companion was Simon. They had been married for what felt like forever, and Colin even occasionally thought of them as a single entity.

Perhaps once he’d hit his twenties, he would have said it was Benedict. Or some chap he’d gone to school with. But Benedict had recently married and moved out into the country. And due to his travels, Colin had not kept as close touch with his old classmates as he would have imagined he might have back then.

Maybe now it was Eloise. Though Eloise would most definitely choose Penelope over Colin as her own closest friend.

It was only then that Colin realized he’d totally drifted off for a few minutes. Cressida seemed to have noticed his scorn for her words, though, for she had kept her mouth shut the entire time.

But they heard Kate’s laugh floating through the air again, and Cressida could not help but roll her eyes.

“I think my brother to be very lucky actually,” Colin said firmly. “If one finds a kindred soul in someone else, someone who understands you and you them, it’s probably best you make sure to keep them in your life, no matter what.”

Cressida did not seem to know what to say to this. Colin had nearly surprised himself with the second part.

The music came to a close, and mercifully, they parted ways. Colin wandered over to the refreshments table, feeling struck by an odd sense of loneliness. He tore into a sandwich.

Anthony found him moments later.

"How are you this evening, brother?"

Colin turned to look at his eldest brother, whose high-spirits were no doubt due to the fact that he'd just been in Kate's company.

"I'm doing well. Just thinking about my next trip," Colin replied in between bites. "Haven't made my way over to Italy in quite some time."

3.

1822

Colin did not anticipate attending any social events on the evening he had returned from Spain.

In fact, all he had wanted to do was relax and perhaps catch up with his family.

But his returning in the middle of the season – combined with the residents of Number Five all accompanying Hyacinth to her events, and Benedict being out in the country, and Anthony opting to spend more of his free time with his wife and children than at the club – all led up to Colin standing on the sidelines, feeling very lethargic from all the travel, at Lady Danbury’s party.

He clung to Eloise, who at this point, was rather skilled at deflecting most offers to dance from any suitors who approached with a hopeful glint in their eye. But Eloise did not do much to protect him, for she stood on the side wall, resolutely facing Penelope as they chat.

Penelope, the sweetheart she was, was turned outward so that she was facing both Eloise and Colin; Eloise, on the other hand, was so engrossed in her conversation with her friend that it was as if Colin wasn’t even there.

Their mother approached. He made a rather desperate face at Eloise. Eloise did not notice.

“Colin,” his mother put her arms around his shoulders in a side-hug. “I’ve scarcely seen you on the dance floor this evening.”

Colin had an excuse readied in his pocket. “That’s not true. Miss Featherington and I danced earlier this evening. Isn’t that right?”

Penelope looked over at him, the faintest blush shading her face. She then looked at Violet, who smiled back at her delightedly.

“Oh yes, Lady Bridgerton. We danced the waltz.”

Colin sent her a look of gratitude. Penelope’s blush only seemed to deepen.

Eloise looped Penelope back into their conversation, and then his mother took the opportunity to lean in, so that she could speak more quietly.

“You should dance with Lady Twombley.”

The corners of Colin’s mouth had never so quickly been pulled down into a scowl.

Of all the women his mother could have suggested. Actually, perhaps he’d better be grateful. There was a good enough reason not to dance with Cressida –

“Lady Twombley, Mother? I imagine she’d rather dance with her husband.”

Violet shook her head. “Her husband passed two months ago, Colin.”

Colin shot a furtive glance across the ballroom, where Cressida stood. She was making small talk with Lady Englesfield.

She actually looked quite different than he'd ever seen her: pale, dispirited, arms folded in quiet resignation.

“This is her first public appearance all season. She’s not looking for a suitor. I just think it’d be nice for her to have some com – ”

“Alright.” He was not going to be a boor and force his mother to beg him to accompany a widow.

Colin made his way over to her, as the orchestra readied for the next song.

“Lady Twombley,” he greeted her.

Cressida looked away from Lady Englesfield. “Mister Bridgerton,” she returned. “How lovely to see you.” Words with very little enthusiasm behind them, not that he blamed her for not being able to muster up any geniality.

“Would you care to join me for a dance this evening?”

She held her arms tighter around herself. “Oh, that’s quite alright – ”

“One short dance,” he insisted. She was wearing a deep gray; no one was going to think he was courting her. “I am certain we all need a little fun.”

He reached his arm out. She hesitated before taking it, and then he led them out to the floor. 

“Please let me offer my deepest condolences to you.” 

Cressida nodded. “Thank you, Mister Bridgerton.”

She looked… sad. That was all. Just very crumpled and lost. It was almost unnerving to see her this way.

"My sister, you might know, lost her husband two years ago..." he started to say.

"I remember," she said. This was not a secret, of course. "It must have been rough. I am sure it still is. She seemed to like him very much." Colin listened to her curiously, for she didn't even have the energy to put any sort of antagonism into her words. "But at least she has something to live on. I have nothing,” she continued flatly. “My husband left me with nothing.”

This surprised Colin. For while he knew very little about Horace Twombley - he was often out of the country, after all - he had been led to believe he had a massive fortune. Cressida probably had been too.

He felt pity for her then. It was likely the only thing she had counted on from the old man. It was, on some level - as the Bridgerton family had gossiped with one another around the time of Cressida's wedding - a superficial thing; but truly, when it came to marriage, livelihood had to come into some consideration. 

"I am very sorry for that," he said seriously.

Cressida's eyes suddenly flitted around with nervousness. "No one knows this, except for my mother, actually. I would appreciate some discretion."

"Of course."

She seemed to actually look at him for the first time that evening.

"Thank you," she said, another emotion starting to rise up. Tears. 

Colin felt even more pity for her then, even though he knew Cressida not having any trustworthy confidantes was, in a lot of ways, her own doing. He produced a handkerchief somewhere from his waistcoat. She quickly dabbed at her face, then folded the cloth and hid it in her enclosed palm.

They finished out the last few moments of the dance in an unspoken, but mutually agreed upon quietude. She thanked him again at the end, he nodded, and she headed back over to Lady Englesfield.

Eloise and Penelope watched him return to their portion of the wall. He stopped in front of them.

“That was very nice of you,” Eloise gave him. She meant it.

Penelope nodded in agreement.

He shrugged.

“If my mother comes back here to point me in the direction of a debutante, you're accompanying me for another dance," he said to Penelope. Penelope waved him off, as though he were joking, which he hadn’t been.

He didn’t get the chance to clarify, however. Eloise had launched into another topic, and turned to ask Colin for his opinion. Penelope snorted at Eloise's brashness, and Colin met her hearty gaze with his own bemused smile before he answered.

_1._

1824

Cressida's outstretched arm was accompanied with a knowing, sickly sweet smile. Colin hated how smarmy she looked. He could only imagine it had been even more smug, even more cruel, when it had been directed at his wife earlier in the day. The thought made him want to shake with anger.

How could she think he'd ever want to spend a minute more with her, when no less than five hours ago, she'd waltzed into his home and taunted Penelope with the knowledge of her secret? Threatened and bribed the woman he loved?

He had to hold himself back from telling her off right there in the middle of the ball. He could have his moment now, but Penelope wasn’t here, and Pen deserved it far more than he did. Besides, he had devised a plan, and if he clued Cressida in to any of it now, she would certainly scheme to try to get in their way.

“Lady Twombley,” he responded without a hint of a smile. He felt no need to even pretend to be affable. “I’m afraid I cannot escort you to the dance floor this evening. Or really, any other evening, for that matter.”

Cressida did not look all that surprised by his demeanor, but she did look around with some embarrassment as he denied her a dance. 

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am going to go find my wife. I believe another song is about to begin,” he said, though there was no music playing, “and a lady as beautiful and brilliant as her doesn’t deserve to wait on the sidelines.”

He moved past Cressida, though not before catching her scowl. He reveled in it for a moment as he made his way through the guests milling about.

Ten steps further, and he spotted his mother, Hyacinth, and Penelope by a window. Hyacinth virtually hollered him over.

He bounded over, ready to whisk Penelope away, proudly let everyone know exactly who she was, and then go have some fun with her for the rest of the evening.


End file.
